SciFi Question of the Day: If a future human society, either on Earth or a new planet, fully accepted that young people often have their first sexual experience in their late teens, what kind of celebrations or rituals might they develop for the occasion? What euphemisms might be more appropriate than “losing” or “giving” one’s virginity to a sex partner?

Facebook Answers

AmyBeth Fredricksen In one Heinlein book, the family (a very rural, farming family off on some human-colonized world) had a little party for the girl when she came home all excited about what happened in the hayloft with the neighbor boy. Cake and everything!

Geri Bressler I have a pattern for a Booby Cake my mom used to make for bachelor parties. That would make a good sex cake I think! It uses Snow Balls, Coconut, and a little triangle of fabric…I’ll let ya’ll figure out where everything goes.

Geri Bressler Ooh…ooh!! I know! Let the person the cake is for figure out where everything goes! You know, since they know now.

Geri Bressler See?! The whole dialogue changes when you change the language used to describe the event! God I love words

AmyBeth Fredricksen I was taught that good girls don’t… “share.” Well, they share, but they don’t “share.”

Kent Schmidt AmyBeth, I think it was called Santa Carolita’s Day and it shows up in several of Heinleinis novels, most memorably “To Sail Beyond the Sunset” and it became a coming of age celebration as well as a bachonalia (sp?) on some planets.

Cayla Ray Is it only one incidence of cake, or can we have cake after each time?

AmyBeth Fredricksen Heinlein also wrote about the family throwing a little party (yes, with cake) when the girls had their first period. I’m not so sure I’d like that… but then again, throwing a party announces to the world that it’s a perfectly natural step in the girl’s “coming of age,” not a sign that she should be shunned by the community until her flow stops.

I wonder if they’d throw a party the first time a boy had a wet dream?

Google Plus Answers

Rebecca Blain Have it be in public and call it a coming of age ceremony or something…?

Jamie Rich I like the idea of friends (and family?) invited to a night, or day of sexual activities, and exploration. Of course that would hafta be SciFi as the invitees would not be judgmental, but rather loving…

Dee M I’d imagine that t would be a coming of age ritual similar to how some societies have that don’t have the same taboo as our society.

In fact there was a Scifi show where teens did loose their virginity and it was not a big deal. The family openly talked about it. Anyone remember Alien Nation?

Jean Auel wrote about such a ritual in her Earth’s Children series. Of course, those were prehistoric humans. But an interesting ritual… certain adult volunteers from the community were selected to take each young person through their first sexual encounter. She wrote about some of the emotions involved, such as young people developing an emotional attachment to their “initiator” and young people chastising one of their own who had apparently “jumped the gun” and had a sexual experience before their initiation ritual.

Wayne Beach Up until the late 19th century such rituals were commonplace in nearly every culture and many rituals still faintly echo them such as Mitzvah’s, “Sweet 16’s”, Quince’s and the like.

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.